Popular Hoppa bus faces funding crisis

THE Waverley Hoppa, an eight-vehicle community transport initiative serving the villages of the borough, showed a 190% increase in passenger journeys during the past year – but faces a potential funding crisis after 2005-06.

THE Waverley Hoppa, an eight-vehicle community transport initiative serving the villages of the borough, showed a 190% increase in passenger journeys during the past year – but faces a potential funding crisis after 2005-06.

Nigel Knight Evans, board member of Waverley Hoppa Community Transport, told councillors at Waverley’s community overview and scrutiny committee on Tuesday evening that he believed £125,000 of Countryside Agency funding would disappear in 2006.

With the next largest grant of about £45,000 coming from Surrey County Council (SCC), Mr Knight Evans admitted that, although the initiative had an income from carrying passengers, it is a “subsidised business requiring core funding from someone”.

The Hoppa provides a number of different services – from the Hoppa Shopper delivering passengers from surrounding villages to one of the main shopping areas of Wav-erley, to the Hoppa Tourer, where individuals can contract the vehicles to suit their needs.

“The group hire – buses and cars for use by various groups – more or less pays its way,” Mr Knight Evans told the committee. “The big expense is the demand responsive – the buses going around in the day and collecting people to bring them into the various towns.”

“We are trying to make the demand responsive known far and wide and, if everything goes according to plan, we will have a shortfall of about £4,000 – be-fore we depreciate the vehicle.”

“We are really running a deficit for a long-term project of around £40,000 per year.”

Mr Knight Evans said there was every reason why Waverley – and Godalming in particular – should wish to fund the scheme.

“Godalming is the winner because statistics show we bring in 102 people into the town per week,” he explained. “If they are spending £25 each every three weeks, the demand responsive is perhaps putting a third of a million pounds into local economy that would otherwise go to direct supermarket services.”

But committee chairman Councillor Pat Frost came back to the Countryside Agency funding. She asked: “Have you produced any plan to what you might do in 2006 other than shut up shop?”

“No,” replied Mr Knight Evans.

Fellow board member Griff Griffiths added: “We have a business plan through until 2005, but after that we have got to be sure we get funding.”

The Hoppa provides a variety of different services in community transport, including mobility for hospitals, shopping and schools. For details of services, call Hoppa on 01428 681710.